Mary Irvine: Writer and Philhellene.

Born in Yorkshire, 1945. Had a happy childhood – sorry about that! No ‘mispers’ there!
Working life spent across a broad spectrum in education in teaching at all levels and in posts of administration. Learned to swim aged 32, took up judo and managed to get a green belt. Found my medals whilst clearing out recently. Travelled a little. Left UK after becoming disillusioned with system and government generally. Lived in Greece for a while, including being Directress of Studies in a Frontistirion in Athens, before moving to small Greek island in Saronic Gulf. Wrote copious letters to friends back in UK. No serious creative writing until my retirement. Recently completed MLitt in Creative Writing at Glasgow University. Write mostly short stories/flash fiction /articles. Lots of them about Greece! Now have a base near the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond..

Meet the Author Charlie Gracie – ‘To Live With What You Are’ The final meeting of the Meet The Author events for 2018 took place once again at the picturesque Fruin Farm, Glen Fruin, Helensburgh G84 9EE This time we welcomed Charlie Gracie, originally from Baillieston but now domiciled at the other side of the Ben. […]

A very appreciative audience enjoyed an entertaining two hours during the recent Book Week 2018 when the Helensburgh Library played host to poet turned novelist Michael J Malone. He spoke of his early writing life and the benefits of joining a writers’ group for support and encouragement, as well as offering critiques. Having had many […]

‘Meet the Author’ at Fruin Farm (Back by Popular Demand) Not a shuffle, not a cough, ne’er a sniffle. Total absorption in the event. And what was the event? The award winning poet from Helensburgh, Catriona Malan, who was being interviewed on her life and work. From her birth to the present day Catriona took […]

A full house, good poetry and prose speakers, an interesting discussion (with a revelation) and a very entertaining and talented singer. All in one evening and all for free! The event was a celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead organised by Dove Tales in which the courage of conscientious objectors was honoured in […]

Freedom Bound – Escaping Slavery in Scotland by Warren Pleece, Shazleen Khan and Robin Jones, pub. BHP Comics, Glasgow 2018. I recently spent a couple of hours in Our Lady and St. Patrick’s School in Dumbarton. The reason for the visit was to hand over a set of thirty books. These were Book One of […]

‘Main entrance, first right, first left.’ I was early. Reliant on train times, and the ‘drop of a hat’ cancellations, I had taken an early train. No problems. Partick not busy. Metro to Kelvinbridge. Pleasant walk through grassed area to steps leading up to Gibson Street and on to University Avenue, arriving at the main […]

I was recently asked to write a short piece on ‘How Writers Relax. I contacted the usual suspects and came up with the following. Have to admit the replies to the above brought no surprises. Mostly physical activities, presumably to counteract the effects of sitting when writing. So in no particular order these were the […]

My oldest grandson, Ryan, (twenty-five) has been planning to spend a year working in Australia. His Aussie girlfriend, from Sydney, had returned to find a flat and get a job. Ryan set about getting all the paperwork, including the important twelve month work permit. All respect to the Australian embassy for their super-efficiency in offering […]

A Sad Day Fifty years ago, on April 4th 1968, Martin Luther King Jr was murdered on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee. For MLK I am afraid of them They’re black I am afraid of them They’re foreign I am afraid of them They’re disfigured I am afraid of them They’re crippled […]

First Monday Open Mic – Function Room Balloch House Hotel Ann MacKinnon (Balloch), George Gibson (Bonhill) and Mary Irvine (Alexandria) were coming home one night from giving readings at the Scottish Writers’ Centre (CCA, Glasgow). George commented on the fact we needed to travel so far from our homes in order to perform at spoken […]

The Magician looked down on his audience. All smoke and mirrors – that’s all my life has been. All smoke and mirrors. Still it has given me a good living. Brought up in such a progressive country, good education, lots of opportunities. The government there really knew how to manipulate people. A good learning curve, […]

Hello there, Have fallen behind recently with reading/writing reviews/events etc. Gave myself three weeks to finish my novel set on the island of Spetses. What a friend described as ‘a thinly veiled biography’. It is now ‘finished’ and is going through stringent edits, not only proof reading but inconsistencies, loose ends, especially getting rid of […]

Just read a newspaper article re the banning of the book ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird.’ (The Washington Post 17/10/17, ) This is PC gone mad. If we ‘destroy’ art and literature of the past because it is being judged, out of context, to be non-PC are we not destroying/distorting history? Are we not destroying a very […]

I have mentioned before that I don’t have a TV. I tell people it’s because I can’t afford the licence fee but it’s actually because I know it would interfere too much in my life. I listen to the radio quite a lot. There’s quite a calming influence about Radio 4 which I find very […]

I recently had dinner with a companion at this newly opened restaurant in the tastefully furbished upper room of this former church, sensitively transformed into a theatre, bar and venue for that special occasion. We were shown to our table and our coats taken – didn’t have to hang them on the back of our […]

The positive – the offer of hours of free music. The negative – the unpredictability of the Scottish weather! Fortunately the former outweighed the latter and I donned wet gear and boarded the train for Argyle Street. A slight digression at this point (you can do that in blogs!) re: Scotrail – use them often […]

Have to admit I am not a great reader of the detective novel. However, in order to write a review one does not have to be such. One can review any book on its literary merit. I did, as a teenager – some years ago, own and read those of Agatha Christie. My confession is […]

Glasgow Women’s Library Have been quite busy of late finishing off half completed ‘stuff’. A couple of weekends ago I took some time out – away from the computer. Saturday I attended a book launch at the Glasgow Women’s Library. Arriving in the square outside Bridgeton train station, I was surprised to see it decorated […]

‘Anne and Mary’s Local Tales’ Book 2 is now available at the Hub, Dumbarton or post free via the email below. Book 2 takes us a wee bit further afield with Burns’ visit to West Dunbartonshire, the contribution of Tobias Smollett of Renton and the Church of St Mahew in Cardross, as well as recognising […]

In October 2016 I attended a Luminate event in which Larry Butler and Robin Lloyd-Jones, both over 70 (Robin’s actually over 80!) and still actively writing – not living on past glories), interviewed each other about their work and their projects concerning creativity in later life as well as writing for well-being. There were also […]

Ten writers telling lies… The date, Thursday 27th April, 2017. The venue, Cottiers Theatre, Glasgow. The event, the culmination of a 15 month project between ten authors and the accomplished musician/songwriter, Jim Byrne. I had attended several ‘taster’ sessions during the project and couldn’t wait to see it in its entirety. And I was not […]

It was that time of the year again. A Spa Day (courtesy of my son and daughter-in-law) at the Carrick*. For regular readers – I do believe I have reached double figures – I make no apology for another review of this establishment. It’s good to re-assess restaurants, accommodation etc and spas. Mustn’t let standards […]

Lennox Heritage Society Talk Feb 8th 2017 Seven thirty p.m., a smattering of people. Was this going to be the worst attended meeting of the year? Were the numbers normally attending boycotting me especially! By the start at half-past 7 there were some fifty plus people ready to hear all about Margaret […]

Spetses – an interlude on St David’s Day 2017 Did my teacher training in North Wales. Good student days. Even managed some academic work. My son was born there. Got a soft spot for the place. One of the pieces of music that always touches me deeply is a recording of Paul Robeson singing the […]

18 Degrees and Rising. Monday, 20th February, 2017 Esther and Christos, my hosts, have gone to Athens for a couple of days. Did think about going with them. Really love Athens but couldn’t cope with the noise, the traffic, the pollution. Aging problems with mobility a factor as well! Think I prefer to remember her […]

Have just been checking emails. Know I told people not to email incase there was no signal up in the mountains so why am I disappointed the only ones are those we instantly delete. That’s rhetorical! Left home c 3.20 on 15th. Hadn’t been to bed, Needed to keep checking – passport, ticket, money! Son […]

Recently attended another day school at the University of Glasgow. Editing! As I’m about to embark on a five week visit to Greece in order to edit a 60,000 word manuscript I thought this was just what I required. Must add here that I signed up for this course as soon as I saw it […]

When I got up this morning I had no intention of writing what follows but it has been inspired by a discussion I have just heard on the radio. I don’t have a television so listen to radio 4 for news, comedy, drama, documentaries. What I have just heard resulted in my retrieving a book […]